Stuck in the Desert With You
by BlazingStorm
Summary: Kirk thought that it would be a simple away mission, just beaming down and back in a day. But things go awry, and Kirk is stranded on the planet surface for a week with the only woman in Starfleet that can't stand him. This is going to be interesting. Kirk/OC.
1. Prologue

Kirk sighed as he headed into the turbolift and sent it hurtling toward Sickbay. He had avoided the mandatory medical examination for as long as he could now, but as soon as he had gotten on board the Enterprise, McCoy had contacted him with the message "Get your lazy butt down to Sickbay right now or I'll kick it the whole way across the bridge!"

Kirk hated medical exams. The doctors always stuck you with pokey things that had who-knows-what in them. The biggest thing that Kirk hated, though, was that the medical officers were the only people on this ship that could tell him what to do. Kirk had never been one for taking orders; he was more into giving them.

Kirk walked through the automatic doors of Sickbay and sat on one of the benches, waiting for McCoy to come give him his examination. "About time you got down here," McCoy grunted as he walked over.

"Just make it quick." Kirk looked around the room as McCoy scanned him for any obvious health issues. As his eyes turned to the left he saw a medical officer he had never seen before, a pretty _female_ officer.

"Hey, Bones, who's that?" Kirk asked.

McCoy sighed, "A newly appointed medical officer. I didn't tell you because I didn't think you'd mind..." his voice trailed off as he saw that he had already lost Kirk. "And apparently I was right."

Meanwhile, Kirk was busy checking out the latest addition to his crew. She had a pleasantly curvaceous figure, though she could stand to lose a few pounds. Her soft features were pretty, though she would have been prettier if she was smiling, and from the look on her face he could tell that probably didn't happen very often. She had a smattering of freckles across her nose and cheeks, and her brown hair was done up in a very professional bun at the nape of her neck, though Kirk figured it would look much better down. All in all, Kirk considered, a nice catch.

"Excuse me, Bones, I think I've just decided to change my doctor," Kirk said slyly, getting up from the bench.

"Oh no you don't, you cannot go flirting with my medical staff!"

Kirk either didn't hear McCoy or chose to ignore him (the latter being more likely), because he continued toward the new officer's bench. Her last patient had just left, so Kirk casually slid into the vacated seat.

"Hello," he said with a raise of his eyebrows. Across the room, McCoy rolled his eyes.

"Hello. Captain Kirk, I presume," she said tersely. She almost sounded like a Vulcan, except a little more...pissed off. He checked for pointy ears, but the medical officer was definitely human.

"Yes. And your name is?"

"Ensign Norrans. Recently transferred from the USS Monroe. Take your shirt off."

"If that's what you want," Kirk said flirtatiously, removing his shirt.

"Please, this is a medical examination." Ensign Norrans said, rolling her eyes. "I'm just checking your heart rate." She held a stethoscope device to his chest.

"I apologize if the reading's off. Seeing a pretty girl like you always makes my heart beat faster," Kirk said, laying it on thick. He was Starfleet's resident playboy after all.

"You can quit your flirting. It's not going to happen."

Kirk just kind of looked at her, stunned. He had never faced such instant rejection before. In fact, he'd never faced any rejection before. Ladies just couldn't resist him, except this one apparently.

"What kind of guy do you think I am?" Kirk asked indignantly.

She pulled a few hyposprays out of a drawer in the bench. "You know...," she started saying, as she jabbed a shot into his arm.

"Ow!"

"...That you have...," Another jab. "...A reputation...," This time it was a hypospray to the leg. "...For being..," In the other leg. "...A womanizer." She said forcefully, delivering a final, ridiculously painful shot to the back of Kirk's neck.

As Kirk sat there rubbing his neck, Ensign Norrans performed her final scan. "All good. You can leave now." It was more of a command than a statement. Kirk shuffled towards the exit, his legs still somewhat sore.

As he passed McCoy on his way out, the doctor started to laugh. "Feisty one, isn't she?"

"Oh, shut up. Were all of those hypos even necessary?" Kirk asked with a wince, still rubbing the back of his neck.

"The first three were. I think the other two were just for the heck of it," McCoy replied, then started laughing again.

Kirk grumbled as he made his way out of Sickbay and into the turbolift, sending it up to the bridge.

"Captain, are you feeling well? You seem to be experiencing some pain. Did your medical examination go poorly?" Spock asked as Kirk half-walked, half-stumbled his way over to the captain's chair. The hypos he had gotten in his legs were really starting to feel sore. Weren't they supposed to be less painful than shots? Kirk had never remembered one hurting so badly before.

"I'm fine," Kirk said tersely, not meaning to be rude to his first officer, but, all things considered, he was already having a rather bad day, and it was only 9:30 in the morning.

"Vhat happened? You can barely valk," Chekov said, sounding peculiarly nervous.

"Nothing, just go back to manning your post," Kirk grumbled, knowing he didn't really have much to do. The course was already set and they wouldn't get to their destination for another few days. Unless something unexpected happened (which was actually a frequent occurrence aboard the USS Enterprise), the navigation officer wouldn't have much to do for a little while.

Chekov obediently turned back his console and started anxiously tapping his fingers along its side.

"'Nothing' seems to have you fairly upset, Captain," Sulu pointed out. Apparently the helmsman didn't have much to do either.

"Doesn't anyone on this ship have anything better to do than pester me about my medical examination?"

"Nothing's been happening for days, sir. We're running out of things to talk about."

"Why don't you ask our communications expert?" Kirk said, jabbing his finger in the direction of Lieutenant Uhura.

"I'm an expert in alien languages, not interesting topics of conversation," Uhura replied.

Sulu casually, nonchalantly offered up the comment, "I don't think your mood really has much to do with the hyposprays." As he said it, the turbolift door swished open.

"They pestering you about your medical exam?" McCoy's voice came from behind the bridge crew. "I'll tell you what happened." Then he laughed. "Jim here started putting the moves on the new medical officer and she served him up the quickest rejection I've seen in years."

"Did you just come here to rub it in?" Kirk asked, "Or do you actually need something."

"While that's fun and all, that's not really the reason I'm here," McCoy replied. "A certain Russian prodigy has been evading his medical examination."

Chekov looked sheepish, his head tilted down between raised shoulders. "I…forgot, Doctor."

"Well, I don't much care if you evaded your exam, forgot about it, or ran into a herd of stampeding elephants on your way to Sickbay so long as you're headed there now."

Chekov got up and followed McCoy over to the turbolift. As the young ensign reached him McCoy said, "And don't go moony-eyeing Miss Norrans; she's had about enough of that already. Besides, she's a few years too old for you."

"I vasn't- " Chekov started to protest as the turbolift door shut.

"So your troubles are of the female variety," Spock commented. "I have advised you not to . . . flirt with other officers. It is not good behavior for a Starfleet captain."

"It's not my fault that I'm popular with women," Kirk defended himself. "I just don't understand. I mean, ladies _love_ me. Even Uhura at least _tolerates_ me. But only two minutes after meeting me, she hates my guts!"

"I'm not sure about that. Right now he's being pretty intolerable," Uhura whispered to Spock.

Kirk heard that comment, but decided to ignore it. "She'll come around. It won't take long for her to realize that I'm the most charming captain in Starfleet. You'll see, in a week she'll change her mind about me," Kirk stated, clearly accepting his self-assigned mission to win over the new medical officer.

"Oh great," Uhura sighed, "Here we go."

* * *

Author's Note: Thanks for reading! I would really appreciate it if you would leave a review, though do keep in mind that this is my first Star Trek fanfiction. Next chapter is where the story really starts, so I hope you'll stay tuned! Once again, thanks for reading!


	2. Day 1

"Captain, we have reached Aldendron. Who is transporting down for the archaeological surveying mission?" Spock asked.

"I figured I'd go, find some alien stuff and transport it back up," the captain responded. Spock had already assumed this would be his answer. He believed that Kirk got some degree of cabin fever aboard a starship and had to go on every away mission the Enterprise was presented with.

"Anyone else, Captain?"

"I should be fine. How difficult can it be?"

"Regardless, Captain, a medical officer should accompany you in case of any unfortunate occurrences. I believe Ensign Norrans is able to accompany you today. Are you two capable of working together?" Spock raised a pointy eyebrow.

Kirk groaned. "Isn't there anyone else?" While he had said he wanted to win her over, he was also a little afraid. He hoped she wouldn't bring any hyposprays.

"No," Spock replied matter-of-factly.

"Fine, I'll meet her in the transporter room," Kirk said with a sigh as he vacated his chair. "Spock, you have the bridge."

When the captain arrived at the transporter room, Ensign Norrans was already waiting for him. She was carrying a large med kit.

"Do we really need all that?" Kirk asked, pointing at the bulky metal case. "It's just a quick surveying mission." He would almost bet there were at least a few hyposprays inside that case.

"No offense, Captain, but you have a reputation for being accident prone."

"So I have another reputation. How much have you heard about me?"

"You have several reputations, Captain, though very few of them are positive." She turned and headed toward the transporter pad.

Kirk turned toward Scott and gave him a look that said, '_What is her deal?'_ Scott just shrugged and motioned for Kirk to join Norrans on the transporter pad.

Soon, the glowing circles of light started to surround the two Starfleet officers. When they disappeared, the two were standing on an arid, desert planet, the boiling sun glaring at them.

"It's insanely hot down here," Kirk said, fanning himself with his hand.

"Of course. Didn't you read the information on the planet? It was described as an _arid_ Class M planet."

"Whatever, it's Class M, that's all that's important. Let's get going," he replied, motioning with his hand in a "follow me" gesture.

Norrans started after him. "What are we looking for?" she asked.

"Alien artifacts. Didn't you read the mission briefing?" Kirk said with a smile.

"I'm just here for medical aid. I'm a doctor, not an archeologist."

"You've been spending way too much time with Bones."

They continued onward, looking for some sign of the long-gone civilization of the Aldenians. Whether they were near anything or not was a lucky guess (the scanners had been acting up again), but the civilization had been extensive, so something was certain to be nearby.

As Kirk reached the peak of a sand dune he called back to his companion. "I found something!"

She hurried up the dune to see what he had found. Not far away a few structures could be seen. They were half-buried in sand and their walls were pocked with holes where the abrasive sand had been blown against them. A tall spire stuck its head out of the sand, suggesting that this may have been an outpost for travelers.

"Let's take a look," Kirk said as he bounded down the hill toward the ancient outpost.

As they reached the first of the buildings, Kirk's communicator buzzed. "Enterprise to Captain Kirk. Have you located any signs of the Aldenians?" Spock's cool, even voice came through the communicator.

"Perfect timing, Spock. We just arrived at a small outpost. We'll look around a bit and report back in another hour."

"Excellent, Captain. We will await your transmission." Kirk put the communicator back in his belt and the two started exploring the ruins.

The two started to dig out one of the small buildings near the tall spire, looking for any small artifacts or pieces of furniture that might have held up over the hundreds of years since the Aldenian civilization had vanished.

After a half hour of digging, Kirk was starting to get bored. He waited for his companion to say something, but she stayed resolutely silent, like she was making a point of not talking to him.

"So," he said, trying to start up a conversation, "everyone just keeps calling you 'Ensign Norrans.' What's your first name? You do have a first name, right?"

"Of course. It's Luanna," she said, not even looking up from where she was working.

"That's a pretty name. Can I call you Luanna?"

"I believe a certain level of formality should exist between a captain and his crew members," she replied, essentially saying 'No, you absolutely may not call me by my first name.'

"I've never been a stickler for formality. You can call me 'Jim' if you want," he said amiably.

"I'll keep that in mind, Captain."

Kirk turned away with a sigh. 'I'll keep that in mind, Captain' he mouthed mockingly, rolling his eyes.

It was nearing the end of the hour and the two officers started to gather their findings. Kirk had dug out a bizarrely shaped piece of furniture that he assumed was a chair and a large metal coin with writing on both sides. Norrans had discovered a small pendant with a strange swirling and clouded green gem set in its center and fairly well-preserved small journal.

"Captain Kirk to Enterprise. We have found some artifacts and are prepared to beam up and continue the search in a new location," Kirk said into the communicator.

The voice of the Vulcan first officer filtered out through the speaker somewhat choppily. It seemed communications was having some issues. "One moment, Captain. Lieutenant Commander Scott, are transporters ready?"

"I don't think so," came the engineers heavily accented voice, "There's a ton of atmospheric disturbance that's come up. I can't get a lock on you."

"How long is it going to last?" Kirk questioned.

"It's been here since we arrived, Captain, though it's been increasing over the last hour. It didn't interfere with transporting you down, but beaming back up seems to be another matter," Scott answered, clearly exasperated.

"Can you send down a shuttle?" Kirk said, only a slight hint of concern in his voice.

"Afraid not, Captain. They're all getting updated at the moment, unsafe to use them."

"You mean to tell me there's no way back to my ship? That on my whole ship there is not one working shuttlecraft? Whose poor planning was this? I want them dismissed." Kirk yelled into the communicator.

"Aish, keep your voice down. No need to be yelling like that. You're going to have a wee bit of a hard time dismissing anyone, Captain, considering Starfleet Command gave the orders on the shuttlecrafts."

Kirk gave an exasperated sigh and rubbed his temples. "From now on," he said with a deliberate calm forcefulness, "No matter what Starfleet Command tells you, make sure that there is at least one working shuttlecraft onboard the Enterprise at all times. Got that, Scotty?"

"Aye, Captain," Scott said apologetically.

"How long do you estimate it will be until the atmospheric disturbance clears enough to beam us back aboard?" Kirk questioned.

"I cannae tell you, Captain. Could be anywhere from a few days to a few months."

"Too unreliable. What about the shuttles?"

"Heh, well . . . um . . . three weeks, sir."

"What!" Kirk screamed into the communicator, "We don't have enough supplies to last that long!"

"Well, we should be able to beam supplies down to you, we just cannae transport anything onto the Enterprise," Scott said.

"Captain," Sulu's voice interrupted, "Scanners have located a working Aldenian shuttlecraft about a week's journey east of your location."

"I guess that's our best option. We'll start heading that way immediately," Kirk said.

"Pardon me, Captain," Norrans interjected, "but we already have some shelter here. I think it would be better to leave in the morning."

"Ensign Norrans is correct. It would be your most logical course of action to remain in your current location until tomorrow," Spock concurred.

"Alright, we'll stay here overnight. Send down some supplies and we'll contact you again shortly. Kirk out." He closed his communicator and stuck it back in his belt. When he looked up, he saw some familiar glowing rings forming above the sand. When they disappeared, a jug of water and ten ration bars were laying on the ground.

Kirk looked at the meager amount of supplies. "That's it?"

"Do you really want to carry around a week's worth of food and water?"

"We could just clear out some of your med kit," Kirk suggested.

"Not a chance," Norrans replied. She opened up the kit and stashed eight of the ration bars inside. Then she opened the remaining two and handed one to Kirk. He bit into it, a look of disgust on his face. The things really _did_ taste like cardboard.

"Why couldn't they have sent down some real food?" Kirk complained.

"Yeah, really," Norrans said, actually agreeing with him for once. "I know it would melt, but I would really love some ice cream right about now."

However, there was no ice cream to be had, so the two consumed their ration bars without further complaints. They drank some of the water, but made sure to leave some for later.

As the sky grew darker, a chill drifted in on a light breeze that was steadily growing stronger. The two officers climbed into one of the outpost buildings through the window. The sun set on the western horizon in a blaze of oranges and purples. The heat of the desert set with the sun, and the two officers were soon engulfed in the bitter cold of a desert night.

"Remind me when we get back to the ship to never take the Enterprise to a desert planet ever again. First it's hot, then it's cold, and I'm just thinking 'Make up your mind already!'" Kirk grumbled.

"At least you have long pants and sleeves," Norrans countered through chattering teeth. She was shivering and rubbing her arms for warmth. "Whose idiotic idea was it to put all the Starfleet female officers in dresses? Pants and long sleeves are much more practical."

"Though not nearly as flattering," Kirk replied with an eyebrow raise.

Norrans groaned, "That's probably why. I bet all the uniform designers are male."

"Here," Kirk said. He started pulling off his yellow shirt, exposing the black shirt underneath, "You can have my overshirt if you want. Might be a little warmer."

"While I appreciate the gesture, I don't think it's going to fit." Norrans took the shirt from his outstretched hand anyway and used it to cover her lower legs instead. "There, it sort of works."

Just then, a strange noise came from outside the building. It was an odd, scraping, plinking sound neither of them could place. With a questioning look, Kirk slowly stood up and looked out the window.

The previous light breeze had become a gale. Sand was being plastered against the sides of the buildings and Kirk could barely see anything. He ducked down quickly so the sand wouldn't blow into his eyes. It wasn't a nasty, full-blown sandstorm, but it was bad enough.

"Good thing we decided to stay here," Kirk said as he sat back down, "There's a sandstorm. I wouldn't want to be out in it. Let's hope too much sand doesn't blow through the windows."

"Well, let's hope it clears up soon. I don't think I can sleep with that racket out there." The noise wasn't particularly loud, but it was scratchy and repetitive.

"Speaking of sleep, I think I'm going to hit the hay. Or the sand, in this case," Kirk said with a laugh as he lay down on the ground and rolled to face away from her. "Goodnight," he called over his shoulder.

Norrans smiled slightly as she curled up on the ground. "Goodnight, Captain."

* * *

Author's Note: Thanks for reading! Reviews are really appreciated, so I hope you take a little time to review my story! Also, I'm planning on making this story take place over the course of a week, with each chapter being a day (excluding the first prologue chapter). I have plans for what's going to happen on six of the days, but there is still one day that I'm a little unsure about. If you have any suggestions, I would really appreciate them and be sure to give you special recognition for your contribution in that chapter's author's note. Thanks for reading and hope to see you next chapter!


	3. Day 2

The blazing sun was already high in the sky when Kirk woke the next morning. He slowly drifted back into consciousness, his sleepy thoughts stirring behind his closed eyes. In that brief state before being fully awake, Kirk had forgotten the events of yesterday. He stretched his arms behind his head and slowly opened his eyes, expecting to be greeted by the familiar shining metal ceiling of his quarters. Instead, his bleary eyes perceived the dull rock walls of the outpost. He could feel the uncomfortable heat in the air and the rough sand beneath his back. The sound of humming engines had been replaced by an eerie stillness. Everything came rushing back to Kirk. He wasn't on board the Enterprise; he was still stuck on this blasted planet, which meant . . .

"Hello, sleepy-head."

Yup, she was still stuck here too.

"Good morning," Kirk yawned.

"We need to get up and get moving. You slept in too late," was her oh-so-friendly morning greeting.

"If you're that impatient, you should have just woken me up."

"Yeah right. It would take a red alert siren to wake you up." She tossed him a ration bar and started climbing back out the window.

Kirk followed her out, munching begrudgingly on the hideous excuse for food. "It's unfortunate that we have to leave the artifacts behind," he said, gazing at the pile of findings from the previous day.

"I can take the small things in the med kit, but the chair is definitely going to have to stay," Norrans replied, placing the journal, coin, and pendant inside the bulky metal case.

"I bet that chair is really comfy too," Kirk sighed. He sat down in the bizarre piece of furniture. The surface was hard as a rock and pokey in all the wrong places. Just as Kirk was about to get up, the chair started moving underneath him. Kirk jolted out of the chair, startled. "Okay, maybe not so much."

Kirk composed himself and changed the subject. "We should let the crew know that we're heading out." He grabbed his communicator from his belt. "Kirk to Enterprise."

No response.

"Kirk to Enterprise, come in please."

Still the communicator remained silent.

"Communications must be down," Kirk said with an aggravated sigh.

"We should just keep moving and try again soon," Norrans said.

The pair made their way across the sand at a slow but consistent pace for the first few hours, but the small container of water was starting to run out and the heat was starting to sink in.

"We're going to have to look for water soon, there isn't much left," Norrans said as she gazed into the nearly empty container. She took a drink then offered the container to the Captain.

"You can have the rest of it. I'll be fine until we find some more," he said, pushing the container back to her. He was feeling pretty decent, but she looked like she was ready to pass out.

"You sure?" she asked. He nodded. With a shrug, she guzzled down the rest of the water. "Thanks," she said. "Let's look for some more water."

Kirk smiled as he followed her across the desert. Did she just thank him? Maybe she was starting to fall for his charms after all.

They walked for what seemed like miles, the dreary landscape of red sand never changing. The hot sun burned down on them, and each step was more difficult than the last. Norrans was sweating horribly and her throat felt parched. She looked behind her and saw that the captain looked even worse off than she was. He was sweating profusely and was stumbling along with a dazed expression on his face. Norrans' years of Starfleet medical training had taught her many things, and she knew dehydration when she saw it. She rushed over to him and roped her arm around him to keep him from falling.

"Don't worry, you'll be better soon," she said with more assurance than she felt. They had been walking for hours with no sign of water. She had almost given up hope of finding any.

"Quit doting, Bones, I'll come for my medical exam," Kirk said, his words slurring together.

"Oh great, he's going delusional on me," Norrans grumbled. She turned to face him, staring right into his eyes. "Look, I'm not Bones. You need to stop hallucinating," she said calmly but forcefully.

"Oh, hey pretty lady, we should totally go to dinner sometime," he said like he was completely intoxicated. He started to fall toward the ground, but Norrans caught him. She wrapped his arms around her neck and started carrying him on her back.

"God, you're heavy," she grunted.

"It's all muscle, babe."

Norrans kept trudging forward with the delusional Captain spouting random nonsense into her ear the entire time. Then suddenly, he seemed to go ballistic. He let go and started running out in front of her screaming, "No, wait!" He didn't get very far before his weak legs gave out and he fell to his knees.

"What is wrong with you now?" she yelled as she ran up to him. He looked so incredibly downtrodden that she changed her tone to a more sympathetic one.

"Hey, what's wrong?" she asked softly, putting a hand on his shoulder.

He pointed into the distance. "The Enterprise . . . they're . . . they're _leaving_ us," he rasped out. The dryness of his throat was evidence from the hoarseness of his voice.

She looked to where his finger was pointing, but it was just more sand. His delusions were playing on his fears that we wouldn't get back on the ship. "It's just a mirage. Everything's fine. The ship is still there. The crew is still waiting for us," she assured. It felt strange soothing her superior officer like a child, but she didn't know what else to do. To herself, she added, "Though I'm not sure if we're going to be fine. We need to find some water, and fast."

Suddenly, his communicator buzzed. "Enterprise to Captain Kirk. We have regained communications," Uhura's voice rang out through the speaker.

A flood of relief washed over Norrans. Finally, they had a chance. She grabbed the communicator from his belt and flipped it open as quickly as she could. "Ensign Norrans to Enterprise. Is transporter technology running yet?"

"Ensign Norrans? Why are you answering Kirk's communicator? What happened to the captain?" Uhura's concerned voice demanded.

Norrans was about to reply when Kirk reached up and grabbed the communicator. "You guys didn't leave?" he slurred out, "Come on over, we'll have a beach party! We can make a sand space station! Tell your pointy-eared lover I said 'hi…'" Then he swooned backwards and passed out.

"What…was _that_? What happened to him?"

"Severe dehydration. He's delusional, and now he's unconscious. Can you send water?"

"Transporters are still down," Uhura replied, a small hint of panic in her voice.

"What about scanners? Can you scan the planet for nearby water?"

"One second." What followed was an interminable pause. It probably only lasted ten seconds, but they were some of the longest seconds in Norrans' life. '_Don't tell me communication is down again,_' she thought.

Then the communicator buzzed again. "Scanners are back online. There should be a small lake about a half a kilometer north from your position. We may not be able to contact you again for several hours. The atmospheric disturbance is increasing. Good luck. Enterprise out."

Finally, they knew where some water was. Now came the next obstacle, how to get there. Norrans knew she couldn't carry Kirk anymore. The symptoms of dehydration were slowly starting to affect her, and she was growing weaker. Her back was already drenched in sweat from carrying the captain on it, and she couldn't afford to lose any more water.

She started shaking Kirk and saying, "Come on, wake up! You can't do this to me. You just _had _to be all chivalrous and macho and let me have the rest of the water. It's not far now, just please hang on."

Her efforts were to no avail. Kirk remained passed out on the sand. Sighing, she started on Plan C. Hopefully his back wouldn't get too scraped, because the only remaining option was to drag him across the sand. She pulled out her compass to find which way was north, and then took his hands and started dragging him in the direction of the arrow.

Norrans trekked onward with Kirk in tow for what seemed like ages. Each step took almost a minute, what with her being tired already and having to drag the unconscious captain behind her. She almost gave up hope when, at the crest of a sand dune, she saw some small trees, bushes, sparse grasses, and the one thing she was looking for. Water.

Norrans ran down the hill at a surprising speed, Kirk dragging like a child's toy behind her. She pulled him up beside the shore of the lake and grabbed a cup out of her med kit. She dove the cup into the lake and pulled out the precious liquid. She dropped a purification tablet, some sugar, and some salt into the cup and waited impatiently for them to dissolve. Typically severe dehydration would be treated with a shot or IV, but a homemade solution was the best she had to work with. Once the dissolution was complete, she placed the cup to the captain's lips.

The water disappeared from the cup in a matter of seconds. Kirk opened his eyes. "Water...," he rasped.

The medical officer hastily prepared another cup and handed it to her captain. "Drink it slowly. It's dangerous to take it in too quickly."

She figured he would be uncooperative as usual, but surprisingly he followed her instructions. Apparently he realized just how dire the situation was.

Norrans pulled another cup out of her kit and prepared another solution for herself. She followed her own instructions and drank it slowly to provide a good example, but it took every ounce of her self-control not to guzzle the water as quickly as she could.

They sat there for an hour or so, slowly sipping water and getting fluid back into their systems. After he had finished his fifth cup of water, Kirk asked, "What happened, exactly? I think I blacked out."

"When does your memory stop?" Norrans asked.

"We were walking through the desert and then…nothing. Maybe a few hazy conversations here and there."

"Your severe dehydration started causing delusions. First you mistook me for Bones, and then you asked me on a date, among other things. And you asked Uhura to bring the crew to our beach party and make sand space stations."

"Oh." Kirk said, looking somewhat embarrassed, but he wasn't one to get embarrassed easily. He'd probably had similar experiences before, though the cause was more likely alcohol than dehydration. "I seem to vaguely recall that Uhura part, but that was a while ago. What happened after that?"

"You blacked out," Norrans said. "I carried you for a while, but I had to resort to dragging you across the sand."

"So that's why my back hurts so badly," was Kirk's response. Not '_Oh, thank you so much for transporting me over a half a kilometer of desert and saving me from dying of dehydration._' Instead, he was telling her off for getting his back scraped.

"Yeah, sorry about that," she replied, her voice laced with heavy sarcasm.

"I didn't mean to be ungrateful. Thanks. You saved my life, after all. Of course I'm grateful, and I definitely owe you one."

"That you do, but for now let me have a look at your back," she said, moving behind him and taking off his shirt. His back was covered in tiny scrapes, most of which were still open and bleeding.

"How's it look?"

"I've seen worse," Norrans replied as she dug into her medical kit and pulled out a bottle of disinfecting alcohol. "This is going to hurt a lot."

"I thought doctors were supposed to tell you that it's _not_ going to hurt," Kirk said over his shoulder.

"Dishonesty is a bad quality. Brace yourself," she said as she poured some of the alcohol down his back.

"ARRRGGGGHHHHMYGOD!" Kirk yelled. After a few heavy breathes, he added. "You weren't kidding. That was horrible."

"That's the worst part," she said as she sopped up the extra alcohol with a small towel. "This part should actually feel very soothing." She grabbed a small bottle of cream from the medical kit and squirted it onto her palm. Norrans lathered it in her hands a bit, and then started rubbing it gently across Kirk's wounds.

"Mmmh, a little to the left," Kirk purred.

Norrans just rolled her eyes and let out a soft chuckle. He never stopped, did he? If she admitted it to herself, it was actually kind of endearing.

"If you weren't a doctor, you'd make an excellent massage therapist," Kirk informed her.

"I'll be sure to add 'gives great massages' to my résumé."

Once she had finished applying the cream, Norrans looked out at the small pond. The water looked so cool and inviting, and she soon found herself slowly walking towards it. Her feet hit the water and a cool, refreshing feeling swept over them. The water also felt cleansing, and the two really needed a good bathing after what they'd been through.

She continued to walk in until she was waist-deep in the water. Norrans looked behind her and saw that Kirk had followed her and was standing just a little ways away from her.

Kirk watched as she started scrubbing down her legs with some soap (how much stuff did she have in that med kit?). She was paying absolutely no attention to him whatsoever. Subtly, he started moving his hand across the water and then . . . SPLASH!

Norrans was plastered in the back with a wall of water. She jumped, and the bar of soap hit the water with another splash. She whipped around to face Kirk, water flying from her dripping hair and a look of shock and rage splashed across her face.

"What was that for!" she demanded. "You must be feeling better."

"I'm feeling perfectly fine now."

"Good, then I won't feel guilty about this!" she said, sending a wave of water crashing towards him.

"OWW!" he exclaimed as the water stung the cuts on his back.

"Well you splashed me first. That's what you get," she said, but a touch of playfulness in her voice told Kirk she wasn't really mad. He splashed her again, she splashed him back, and soon a full-out splash battle commenced.

Though Norrans didn't outwardly smile or laugh, Kirk saw in her sparkling eyes that she was happy. He was glad she was actually enjoying herself and losing some of that snide, business-like manner. It was good to see her lighten up a little.

Norrans was glad to see Kirk smiling, laughing, and being silly, essential being back to his regular self. It felt good after such a grueling day to have some simple, light-hearted fun, to let the splashing water wash away their troubles.

As the sky started getting darker and the wind started picking up, the two climbed out of the water and snuggled in behind the bushes. The wind blew fiercely again that night, but the bushes blocked out the whirling sand. The two fell asleep with mostly good feelings, though a feeling of apprehension crept in the back of their minds. What troubles would tomorrow bring?

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Thanks for reading! Thanks so much to Deliciouslyfun, katie93319, cat4444, KingBahamut, and I'llLightUpTheSky4You for reviewing so far! I hope you'll add your name to that list and review this chapter, I would really love it if you did. See you next chapter!


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